The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee advances human rights and social justice in the United States and around the world.

Jan 14, 2016

Summary of Observations

A family recently released from immigration detention. Photo: Jeff Pearcy.

Children

Child’s reference to sending country: “We were living in a horror movie”

Angry and unfocused

“Yelled a lot” (and to get child’s attention mothers had to “yell a lot”)

Inadequate stimulation, uninteresting toys in playroom, and playground equipment inaccessible because of the extreme summer heat

Repeated questions about missing family members, trouble eating and sleeping, worries about family members

Interrupted schooling: removed from school because of safety concerns in sending country no advancement in Dilley, because participants reported classes started over at the beginning every time a new child joined

Often released sick from the Dilley detention center and embark on bus trips to resettlement areas ill and without food, blankets, medicine, or palliative care

Sending country (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire Part One)

Sexual violence, including rape and other types of sexual assault or sexual humiliation

Friends and family forced to denounce them, putting them and their families at risk

Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes

Drug traffickers and trafficking

Travel to the United States

High cost and extortion, “safety” fees or “taxes” along various sections of train rides

Kidnapping and family members held for ransom

Victims or witnesses of rape, murder, and other violent crimes, including sexual crimes against children

Exposure to extreme heat, rain, and other extreme weather conditions

Long-distance walks without food, water, or shelter

Lack of sanitary facilities or bathing

Detention in the United States

Reports of sexual assault, particularly in Karnes and in the literature (Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services and Women’s Refugee Commission 2014)

Separation of families in detention, holding children separate from parents and removing fathers from families

Constant fear of deportation and being murdered if sent back to home countries

Threats of deportation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Corrections

Corporation of America (CCA)/GEO Group (GEO) staff used as form of coercion

Centers deliberately kept very cold in temperature, children crying from fear and discomfort, mothers anxious that children will get sick, children sick from the cold

Taunting, abuse, and intimidating looks from ICE or CCA/GEO staff reports that refugees were told they would never be released and would die in detention

Mothers told to “control their children” if children were active

Mothers threatened with loss of their children if they didn’t comply

Sense of surveillance of researchers while inside the center

Emotionally closed participants, not communicative or forthcoming

Uncertainty regarding length of detention and lengthy detentions even after cleared for release

Poor health in detention

High levels of anxiety and depression

Significant weight loss among children meals of beans and rice, with no meat centipedes in food missed meals if children not hungry at set mealtimes

Unattended late-term miscarriage in which the neonate “fell out” onto the floor

Child illness allowed to develop into pneumonia

Fully preventable deaths from hyperglycemia (Gilna 2013 Mehta 2015)

Diabetes, untreated or inappropriately medicated

Poor or excessive sleeping

Nightmares

Cognitive impairment

Flat affect, emotional numbness

Long waits to be seen by medical professionals

Medical advice of “drink more water” for ailments from pneumonia to fever to broken bones

Children released with fever, coughs, sore throats, and stomach ailments without medications

Mental health professionals in detention

Lack of contact for appointments after refugees signed up for care during their detention

For adults, only group therapy

Prayer groups for peer support for women, but not all participated in these groups

Threats from mental health professionals that mothers would lose of their children

Taunts from mental health professionals (according to attorneys), who are quoted as saying: “Why are you so sad? You are just going to be deported anyway,” and “If you stay this depressed they are going to take away your kids.” [4]

Release conditions

Clothing (blue, purple, or pink colored t-shirts) that easily identifies women as detainees at the bus station

Lack of geographic knowledge

Language barriers, although Spanish speakers fare better than indigenous speakers bus vouchers in English, which was a problem for refugees

No opportunity to bathe after release, no clean clothes

No blankets for bus ride or provisions for inclement weather or air conditioning

Release at ICE’s discretion, no way of predicting release time

No way of contacting family members (no coins or cell phones to make calls)

Little or no money to purchase food, water, or necessities such as diapers, medicine, and sanitary napkins during three to four days of travel by bus

High bonds that cause additional stress

Ankle shackles that cause shame and discomfort

Resilience

Issues common to all immigrants such as adapting to new environments not knowing a new language, new country, new customs different foods

Reports of seeing a man with a rope or lasso up on top of one of the trains who served as a guide or protector for individual refugees (unclear if the man was part of a gang or cartel, a local individual, or a hallucination)